It's your night to cut loose with your girlfriends, who you haven't seen in a number of years, so you don a pretty, floral and tight dress plus heels, with all the giddy excitement of what the night might bring.

'Maybe you should stop somewhere and put some more on?' And 'will $50 be enough cash in your purse?'

But you're much too excited to stop at a bank or newsagent, and, besides, you're already running late, the party started at 4pm and it's now close to 5pm.

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So your husband drops you at the party with the fleeting promise of seeing each other later, when he plans to either pick you up or join you for late night drinks at your girlfriend's house, where you plan to stay.

All the squeals of delight and laughter of about 20 friends shatter the serenity of the suburban twilight, as you toast the bride-to-be and excitedly trade news over what has happened so far in your young lives.

But the more sober chatter - perforated only by the endless topping up of champagne glasses - quickly dwindles into the hysterical gabbling over drinking games, where gulps of champagne are traded for funny memories of times-gone-by.

Before you know it, the Hummer limousine arrives and there are calls echoing down the driveway, trying to shepherd everyone into the vehicle, with what remains of the mostly drunk champagne, some white wine and bottles of Bacardi Breezer.

You're starting to fully appreciate the high that the alcohol has given you and your stories get louder and funnier with every top-up of your champagne glass.

Everyone is having fun and the fun has only just begun, with Kings Park being only a quick stop before hitting the nightclubs in Leederville for a night of dancing.

In Kings Park you decide it would be a good idea to meet strangers and chat to them drunkenly despite their polite efforts to get on with their own private picnics.

Competitions to roll down the hills with your best friend seem like a fun idea and greatly add to the giddy euphoria that more than two bottles of champagne has had on you.

But it's dark and your friends are keen to hit the clubs and you're the last one to scramble into the limousine.

By now you're drinking the colourful sugary alcoholic fizz of a Breezer, how many drinks you've had you're not sure but what do you care? The whole night's still ahead of you and you haven't grown tired like you usually do by around the four pints of cider mark.

So now you're at the Hip-E Club and making more friends with people in line – who knows what you're saying but they're all laughing. It's all good fun.

There's a bit of hustle and bustle and some people are restless because this line is taking forever but you're still happy.

Then someone shoves and a fight that was brewing causes you to stumble.

A bouncer is speaking to you and you're being directed out of the line.

Your best friend, who has been allowed to get inside, tells you to wait because she needs the bathroom but by the time she arrives back you've gone.

Another friend tells her that you left and waved goodbye as you set off in direction of a taxi rank through the car park to Oxford Street, outside Kailis Bros. Seafood.

Things get hazy from this point on, memories are sketchy, words are being spoken and you're in the front seat of a moving car.

Your taxi driver is Indian and you notice he is speaking a strange language on his mobile phone.

You can't remember how you're acting but something tells you that you've given some directions towards going home because you appear to be heading south on what looks like the freeway, with all its lights speeding by.

But now you're somewhere dark, there are no houses or people, but there is white, pebbly ground that is strangely close to your face from what you remember.

And then you're in the back seat of the taxi and a strange man who is more portly than your driver is outside the taxi talking to your driver.

All that is known is that somewhere between Leederville and home, you somehow ended up in a North Lake car park and a decision was made by your driver to have sex with you.

You weren't aware of that decision and that is why you have brought rape charges against the driver and his friend.

But your driver tells Perth District Court it was you that enticed him into sex because you started touching his private parts and telling him about your marital problems.

But your tell the court only memory is a man, fitting his friend's description, trying to have sex with you in the back of the taxi but was unable to go through with it. You don't remember any sexual contact involving your driver.

Yet your driver says it was him having consensual sex with you in the back of the car, which was why his sperm was found on you through forensic analysis.

He testified that you wanted to have sex and it happened repeatedly, including oral sex, and the only reason his friend came to that car park was to bring water that you requested. His friend denied ever touching you.

Now you're in the witness stand and your marriage is being scrutinised and you're telling 12 strangers that you don't usually perform oral sex.

Your husband is far older than you and he has a daughter almost the same age as you.

But you insist that it was never a problem and that you never fought, you just used to agree to disagree on occasion.

You best friend independently verifies your claim, telling the court that you had never been happier in your marriage and you never complained about fighting.

She testifies that you were clearly drunk to her, with glassy eyes and slightly slurred speech by the time you left the club.

But another friend is not quite so sure that you were that drunk because you seemed to be OK when you went off in search of a taxi.

It all comes down to what the jury believes.

And then the panel of your peers delivers its verdict.

They do not believe that the driver's friend attempted to have sex with you. The friend's evidence is therefore accepted and he is acquitted. The driver is convicted for taking advantage of you while you were in a semi-conscious state.

Tears of joy and sorrow are felt on all sides.

What is left is the haunting fear that women are not safe to be left drunk and alone with their driver in taxis, while drivers will be exposed to increased prejudice brought on by the guilty finding this case.

4 comments so far

To me it goes without saying, that you don't act on or reciprocate any sort of sexual suggestion as a cab driver, especially when there is alcohol involved. As a cab driver, all citizens expect to be treated with respect and not taken advantage of in any manner, as do their friends and family waiting for them at home. If you sit there and watch a colleague abuse his position of trust and do nothing about it, you're just as guilty in my mind.

Commenter

Greg

Location

Perth

Date and time

February 07, 2012, 12:46PM

I had cabs for a few years (long time ago) however I can't recall even one instance where drivers whose word was worth taking seriously reported being offered 'alternative' means of payment. Those drivers who did claim to have been offered / and or accepted other than money were not people who could be considered believable. I suggest that cabbies who clam to have been propositioned by passengers have an inflated ego & over-developed imagination. When its all said and done, a cabbie doesn't rate as a high achiever and is is hardly a 'good catch'. One can only imagine what kind of female passengers would resort to this practice, certainly none that I'd care to count as acquaintances.

Commenter

Yes Minister

Location

Woop Woop

Date and time

February 07, 2012, 1:38PM

In no way, shape or form, do I condone sexual assualt and never is the victim to blame. BUT perhaps young girls should also not get so drunk and they may also be in control of situations and be able to ward off predators. Before people criticise my comment, I repeat just because someone is alone and drunk, DOES NOT give a perpertrator the right to attack them.

Commenter

Hannah

Location

Sydney

Date and time

February 07, 2012, 1:44PM

This is a very bad decision for the safety of female taxi passengers. A poll of female passengers who catch cabs a lot, I'm betting would reveal an alarmingly high incidence of problem taxi drivers and problematic journeys.

I am a professional woman who catches a lot of cabs - client meetings, socially - and have had at least 20 aggresive, suggestive or downright scary incidences in, say, 3 years.

I once even woken up in a cab kilometres from my destination. I'd caught a late night cab at the airport having flown PTH-Adelaide-PTH and was exhausted. I had not been drinking and had given my address in inner city Perth but woke up, with the cab still driving, near the beach carpark at City Beach. When confronted, the furiously driver insisted that this was the address I gave him.

I wish I could say that this was an isolated incident and that I have no female friends who've had problems with male taxi drivers. Unfortunately, that is far from the case.

The Minster for Transport and the taxi companies must work with the Police and the community to ensure that the rules for licensing and supervising taxi driver behaviour are stronger and better enforced.

Women are not safe in taxis in Perth and the outcome of this case is the evidence of it. I would strongly recommend that no female gets into a taxi after dark without a third person knowing which driver picked them up, where they're going and an approximate ETA. Even take a photo.